Kukla's Korner Hockey

Rutherford said he plans on making the 150-mile trip from Raleigh next Wednesday to watch DiPietro play in person against the Hershey Bears. Ironically, Rutherford said he got to know DiPietro during collective bargaining sessions during last season's lockout; DiPietro was on the NHLPA's negotiating committee.

"I liked him," said Rutherford, himself a former NHL goalie. "I liked him as a goalie over the years. He's had a very unlucky career. He's had to deal with several injuries, so I feel once he gets in shape that he's a capable NHL goalie. How long is that going to take and is he going to at some point end up with the Hurricanes or will it end up being with another NHL team? We were going through the list of goalies and he was the goalie that we were the most familiar with."

Rutherford said if anything were to happen to Justin Peters, who has gone 1-5-0 while backstopping the Hurricanes in the absence of Ward and Khudobin, the Hurricanes would "accelerate" the timetable on which they want DiPietro potentially to arrive.

"It's always hard for any player, and I think especially a goalie, to miss training camp," Rutherford said. "You just get further and further behind. Yeah, he hasn't had many practices. He had one practice and he got thrown into the game. The two games he's played he's been OK. He has a couple more levels that he's capable of getting to and that's what we’re watching."